NSW Greyhound Racing Ban Passed into Law

Greyhound racing will be banned in New South Wales after the Lower House of the NSW Parliament passed the controversial legislation yesterday. The ban will come into effect from July 1, 2017.

There has been fierce debate over the Greyhound Racing Prohibition Bill which was introduced by NSW Premier Mike Baird following the release of results of a Special Commission of Inquiry into the sport. The inquiry found that up to 68,000 greyhounds had been killed for not being fast enough for racing, live baiting was used to train the dogs and other animal welfare concerns existed.

Premier Baird earned enough support for the bill to pass; however there is still a lot of opposition. Three National MPs voted with the Opposition against the government, choosing to vote with their constituents against the ban.

Opposition leader, Luke Foley said the ban will create many other problems for both the greyhounds who are currently racing and for their owners.

“If the government gets away with this, with legislation to outlaw and a criminalise a sport, an industry, a way of life in this country, they can do it to any of you,” said Foley.

“It will have a devastating effect on thousands of decent and law-abiding citizens in this state.”

Baird, however, argued that all the issues related to this decision had been taken into account before the bill was put forward. He emphasised that a detailed inquiry, led by a former High Court Judge was undertaken.

“The bill is the direct consequence of the Special Commission, which found compelling evidence of systemic animal cruelty in greyhound racing and concluded there was a culture of cover-up that gave no comfort to those who hoped it could be reformed,” said Baird.